ABOUT HIJAU is GREEN

"Hijau" is a Malay word which means "green". This blog entitled HIJAU is GREEN is an outlet for me to post articles and opinions on issues affecting development, the environment, education, labour and society. My name is Faezah Ismail and I am a journalist from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Email me at surveypeopleplaces @ gmail.com

Pupils in Johor Baru planting a tree at Hutan Bandar (forest in the city) to mark Earth Day yesterday. Picture courtesy of New Straits Times.

Earth Day 2010 caused a flurry of excitement among tree planting enthusiasts in Malaysia.

Many urban areas in the country had organised tree planting activities to honour Earth Day, now into its 40th year. An assortment of idealists had organised the first event on April 22, 1970 to develop an awareness of the environmental crisis.

While the tree-planting exercise is a laudable attempt to green Malaysia, I do hope that overzealous city planners will not be quick to get rid of the growing trees sometime in the future.

This has happened many times before. Just ask residents of housing estates throughout the country.

They simply do not see the rationale of making a great show of planting trees only to find them slashed when city planners decide to use the space for something else.

Take a trip to Singapore, city planners, and learn how they do things there.

When you do that, perhaps we can have the type of cities that we now dream about.